Rights Groups, Nobel Commission Express Regret Over Liu's Death

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is calling for China to release Liu Xiaobo's widow from house arrest Thursday.

"I call on the Chinese government to release Liu Xia from house arrest and allow her to depart China, according to her wishes," he said in a statement hours after the Nobel Laureate's death.

"In his fight for freedom, equality, and constitutional rule in China, Liu Xiaobo embodied the human spirit that the Nobel Prize rewards. In his death, he has only reaffirmed the Nobel Committee’s selection," Tillerson added.

Liu, a Chinese a literary critic-turned-dissident and pro-democracy advocate, died Thursday at age 61 following a high-profile battle with liver cancer.

"I join Secretary Tillerson in mourning the death of Liu Xiaobo, a courageous advocate who dedicated his life to the pursuit of democracy and liberty," U.S. ambassador to China Terry Branstad said.

"China has lost a deeply principled role model who deserved our respect and adulation, not the prison sentences to which he was subjected. We again ask that China release Liu Xia from house arrest, and permit her and her family to travel as they wish," he added. "As we mourn the loss and celebrate the life of this remarkable man, we call on China to release all prisoners of conscience and to respect the fundamental freedoms of all.

The leader of the Norwegian Nobel committee said Thursday the Chinese government bore a "heavy responsibility" for his death.

"We find it deeply disturbing that Liu Xiaobo was not transferred to a facility where he could receive adequate medical treatment before he became terminally ill," said Berit Reiss-Anderssen. "The Chinese Government bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death," she said in an emailed statement.

Rights groups were quick to praise his achievements and legacy while calling on the international community to investigate deaths in captivity and work to prevent them.

“Even as Liu Xiaobo’s illness worsened, the Chinese government continued to isolate him and his family, and denied him freely choosing his medical treatment,” said Sophie Richardson, China director for Human Rights Watch. “The Chinese government’s arrogance, cruelty, and callousness are shocking – but Liu’s struggle for a rights-respecting, democratic China will live on.”

The U.N. Human Rights chief expressed "deep sorrow" over Liu's death, saying the human rights movement has lost a "principled champion".

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi also expressed her condolences for Liu and disappointment with the Chinese government's handling of his illness.

"The world grieves loss of one of the great moral voices of our time. We had hoped that the Chinese ... they mistreated him in prison, contributed to his illness, we would hope that they would allow him to leave the country to receive medical care," she said, "They did not. It is a sad day.”

British Rock Icon David Bowie Dies at 69

British rock music legend David Bowie has died.

On Friday, the iconic musician turned 69 and released Blackstar, his 25th album. Inventive to the end, Bowie mixed rock and jazz on the album, which critics hailed as his best work in years.

His Facebook and Twitter accounts say he died peacefully Sunday "surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer."

​Bowie was known for his gender-bending dress and for his refusal to be pigeon-holed in any one musical genre, experimenting with glam rock, hard rock, dance, pop, soul and punk.

He shot to fame with 1969's Space Oddity, the lyrics of which summed up the loneliness of the Cold War space race and coincided with the Apollo landing on the moon: "Ground Control to Major Tom. Take your protein pills and put your helmet on ... For here am I sitting in my tin can. Far above the world. Planet Earth is blue. And there's nothing I can do."

​Ziggy Stardust

Three years later, he released The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and Spiders from Mars, which introduced one of music's most famous personas: the red-headed, androgynous, eyeliner-wearing Stardust, who would become an enduring part of Bowie's legacy.

He was born David Jones in south London two years after the end of World War Two. But, to avoid confusion with the Monkees' Davy Jones, he later changed his name to David Bowie, according to Rolling Stone.

Bowie's Ziggy Stardust gave way to the stuttering rock sound of Changes, to the disco soul of Young Americans, co-written with John Lennon, to a droning collaboration with Brian Eno in Berlin that produced Heroes.

​​Some of his biggest successes occurred in the early 1980s, with the Let's Dance, Under Pressure, which he recorded with Queen, and a massive American tour.

'High points of one's life'

"My entire career, I've only really worked with the same subject matter. The trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I've always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety — all of the high points of one's life," he told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview.

Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. He also co-wrote the musical Lazarus, which is finishing its run on Broadway this month.

He kept a low profile in recent years after reportedly suffering a heart attack in the 2004. However, he was to be honored with a concert at Carnegie Hall in March.

Bowie is survived by his wife, the model Iman, and two children.

Disco Era Icon Robin Gibb Dies of Cancer at 62

British singer Robin Gibb, an iconic voice of the disco era of the 1970s, died Sunday in London after a long fight against cancer. He was 62 years old.

Gibb and his brothers Barry and Maurice formed their band, appropriately named the Bee Gees, for the Brothers Gibb, in the late 1950s.

The band was a success. But the brothers did not become global superstars until disco was born in the mid 1970s, becoming the defining sound of the era.

The Bee Gees sold hundreds of millions of records including the smash hits How Deep Is Your Love, Stayin' Alive, and Night Fever.

The band survived the decline of disco's popularity and broke up when Maurice Gibb died in 2003.

Robin Gibb kept performing until earlier this year. He had been battling liver and colon cancer.

Photo courtesy of AVRO. Robin Gibb (of the Bee Gees) in AVRO's TopPop (Dutch television show), 12 January 1973.